News Briefs – July 29, 2019

By
HeadQuest

What Do Companies Think About Off-Duty Cannabis Use?

The tight job market and the rise of legal marijuana use is narrowing the list of qualified, drug-free candidates. In industries like hotel and hospitality, some have stopped testing for marijuana. Nevada recently passed a law banning employers from refusing to hire based on a cannabis test.

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Cannabis Industry Lobbying On Track To Hit Record High

After shelling out $2.7 million to influence lawmakers and regulators in 2018, the industry has disclosed outlays of at least $1.6 million in 2019’s first half, putting it on pace for a new spending record by year’s end. This year’s total at the halfway mark already slightly beats 2017’s overall figure.

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Michigan’s Adult-Use Rules Put Cannabis Pioneers Out in the Cold

Michigan’s first adult-use cannabis stores are expected to open near the end of 2019, but many of the state’s medical marijuana pioneers could find themselves shut out of the new retail industry.
The state has been in a scrambling-for-licenses stage since the passage of a statewide adult-use legalization initiative in Nov. 2018. Early indications are that those licenses are going predominantly to a few of the state’s biggest players—and not to the smaller caregivers who built the medical industry over the past ten years.

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Curaleaf Scrubs CBD Health Claims After FDA Warning

The FDA told the cannabis company elast week that it was “illegally selling” CBD products with “unsubstantiated claims” that the products treat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, opioid withdrawal, pain and pet anxiety. Curaleaf said upon receiving the agency’s letter, the company “immediately began an extensive review of its website and social media platforms to remove all statements that FDA identified as non-compliant.” The company said it removed its Curaleaf Hemp blog and third-party links in it, along with pulling statements and social media posts the FDA flagged.

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80% Of Vape Products Could Be Fakes

A recent study by Solo Science, a leading consumer products intelligence company, found that 80% of all packaged cannabis products appearing within the cannabis market, both illicit and legal, are counterfeit. According to the report, the problem is made worse by online retailers that get their materials mostly from China.

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State-led Regulatory System Proposed for US Cannabis Industry

The current issue of the nonprofit American Botanical Council’s (ABC’s) peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram features a proposed state-federal regulatory framework for the US cannabis (Cannabis sativa) industry. The proposal suggests the removal of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), thus allowing US stakeholders entry into the global market.

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UFC Fighters Team with Aurora Cannabis on CBD Study

Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes will serve as test subjects to find out if the cannabis compound CBD can treat the aches and pains that come hand in hand with their violent sport.

The research is part of a partnership between the professional mixed martial arts league and Canadian company Aurora Cannabis (ACB). Aurora and the UFC plan to conduct clinical trials on the use of cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, in elite athletes and then employ the results to develop a line of hemp-derived CBD topical treatments targeting elite athletes.

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